The LORD God prays over the people:
Shine on, oh my people!**
Shine on through the winter nights of your spirit,
through the bitterness of the world’s hardships.
Be beautiful and brave when you feel least so.
Carry on when the strength is not in you.
Let the Light of the World shine through your brokenness
and warm you like a blazing fire.
Shine on!
Shine on, oh my daughters and sons!
Shine on in the desolate corridors of governmental injustice,
breaking through the shiny steel towers of cultural greed.
Be mouthy and sharp-tongued when truth is obscured.
Carry on with the light that has been given to you.
Let the Light of the World burn through red tape
and build love like a raging flood.
Shine on!
**”Shine on,” lyrical refrain from Michael Franti & Spearhead’s song “Crazy, Crazy, Crazy” on the album, Everyone Deserves Music.